86 trains cancelled, several short terminated

New Delhi: The railways has cancelled 86 trains and short terminated 37 others due to cyclone Vayu, officials said on Thursday.
Western Railway said the cancellations were made as a precaution even though the cyclone changed its course and is unlikely to make landfall in Gujarat. However, it will cause heavy rain in several coastal districts of the state. “Considering the alertness for cyclone Vayu over Gujarat, the Western Railway has decided to fully cancel operation of 86 mainline trains, while 37 other mainline trains have been short terminated with partial cancellation as a precautionary measure in the cyclone prone areas.
“In addition to this, various safety and security precautions are also being taken by the Western Railway for train passengers of these prone areas under the jurisdiction of WR — Veraval, Okha, Porbandar, Bhavnagar, Bhuj and Gandhidham,” the railways said.
The Veraval-Amreli, Amreli-Junagadh, Delvada-Veraval are some of the trains that were cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday. Western Railway has also decided to run special relief trains.
Two such special evacuation trains have been run in Rajkot division and one in Bhavnagar division to clear passengers from coastal area that are affected by the cyclone.
The state government has launched a massive evacuation exercise to shift about three lakh people from low-lying areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions.
Moving north-westwards, Cyclone Vayu on Thursday afternoon started skirting the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat while heavy rains which lashed the coastal areas were likely to continue till the evening, the Indian Meteorological Department said. As was feared, the ‘severe cyclonic storm’ did not make landfall in Gujarat but was passing over the Saurashtra region, affecting Amreli, Gir Somnath, Diu, Junagarh, Porbandar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Dwarka districts, bringing widespread rainfall with heavy to very heavy rains. (Agencies)